In Time To Come
by SlytherinHoe
Summary: Hermione and Draco find themselves thrown forward in time. They meet their children and witness their moments of happiness, drama, sadness and romance. Not only do they discover a lot about Scorpius, Albus and Rose, but also about themselves. TimeTravel Fic. Not strictly Cused Child compliant. [Scorose]
1. Chapter 1 - Hermione

Chapter 1 - Hermione

It was yet another long evening in the library for Hermione Granger. Since beginning her sixth year at Hogwarts, she found that in order to stay on top of her classes she needed to spend twice as time there as she used to. She looked over her essay with a frown on her face; the library was shutting soon but she still had so much more to include before she could be satisfied with her work! She asked to borrow Harry's cloak just in case she was going to make it back past the curfew hours, so she hoped that she wouldn't be ushered out just yet.

Unfortunately, Madam Pince was annoyingly diligent and had no intention of letting any student stay longer than permitted. She approached Hermione's table and without a word glared at her to indicate that it was time to leave. The essay was not yet finished! She needed at least another half an hour but there was no point arguing with the librarian. Quietly, she picked up her books and made a point of leaving the library, only to put the Invisibility Cloak back on and re-enter when Madam Pince was checking the other end of the room.

One of the greatest, if not the only, benefits of the Marauder's Map was that it gave away the location of the library's secret study rooms which have been unused for years. It was shocking to her that Harry and Ron didn't care much for this amazing discovery, so she was left to figure out how to get to all three of them on her own. She chose to go for the one nearest to the exist, since it was the easiest entrance to get through without making any noise.

Hermione navigated between two bookcases until she reached the wall at the end, and with a few taps of her wand on the appropriate slabs of stone she soon found herself in the ancient room with not only forgotten and forbidden books on unstable, randomly scattered bookshelves, but a few strange objects in-between them which she never had the time to examine closer. She took off Harry's cloak and looked around. Her mission would have been a success, except for one very unwanted Slytherin who stood still and alert with his wand out opposite her.

'What are you doing here Granger?' Draco Malfoy asked wearily with a scowl on his gaunt face.

Hermione studied him for a moment. It dawned on her that she hasn't actually seen him a lot this year; They were well into November and he hasn't yet made a point of antagonising her or her friends as much as he used to. He mostly kept to himself. As well as his behaviour, his appearance changed too. His face was even more pale now, and he had dark circles under his eyes.

She frowned and responded. 'I came here to…' she started, but her words were cut off by the sound of moving stone which could only mean someone was about to enter. There was just about enough time to hide behind a bookcase and throw the Cloak back on. Malfoy forced himself under as well and cut off her protest by putting a hand over her mouth.

Her heart was pounding as they watched Madam Pince enter the room. Hermione cursed herself for not considering the possibility of the librarian checking even the secret rooms before her shift was over. Neither of them dared to move as she started inspecting the chamber. Hermione could only hope that the Invisibility Cloak was covering them entirely. She tried to look for alternative ways of escaping, but they were backed against a wall between a bookshelf to their left, and a strange object on a pedestal next to the wall on the right. It could only be described as a dusty, golden, yet transparent glass sphere with glistening sand lazily circling inside.

Madam Pince looked around thoroughly and stopped in a few places. Hermione could feel Malfoy's palm grow sweaty on her face as the librarian's hawk like eyes began scanning their corner. She paused for a moment to look at the golden sphere with a slightly puzzled look on her face and turned to leave.

The movement of the slabs of stone indicated that Madam Pince finished her inspection, but they remained still for several moments after. Eventually Malfoy took his hand off her mouth and made a move to leave.

'Well done Granger, you nearly got us caught!' He exclaimed as he anxiously walked to the end of the book case and leaned out to check that the coast was clear.

'I got us caught?!' Hermione hissed in disbelief, not daring to shout. 'If it wasn't for Harry's cloak you would have had a month's worth of detention by now!'

He sharply walked back towards her and pointed his wand at her. He opened his mouth to start his usual string of threats and insults, but he froze and stared at the object next to her with a frown. Hermione followed his line of sight and saw that the sand inside the sphere started flowing in a confusing, frantic way. This seemed to have captured Malfoy's curiosity, because he picked up the orb and shook it. The sand inside behaved as a sand in a container being thrown about would, and when Malfoy placed it back down on the stand, it resumed its lazy swirling motion. If Hermione wasn't still recovering from the close call, she probably would have made a comment. He shrugged his shoulders and apparently decided he was in no mood to argue and left.

Finally deciding to move, she walked over to the table in the middle of the room and sat down to collect herself. It wasn't three minutes before the entrance opened once again. She jumped up, scared it was another professor, but found that it was Malfoy again. A very dishevelled Malfoy with his face red from exercise.

'Something's wrong,' he said as he paced the room.

'You forgot to thank me for saving your ferret ass?' Hermione snorted but he barely reacted.

'No, something is really, REALLY wrong.' He started pacing even faster. 'I wanted to go back to my common room, but everything in the library has changed! It's definitely not how I saw it when I walked in.'

'Maybe you've been creeping around this secret room for a bit too long Malfoy?' She had a strong suspicion that he was playing some malicious game with her.

'No, I was here an hour at most. Not long enough to change the entire library!'

'The entire library?' She was still sceptical, but his frantic behaviour was rousing her curiosity.

Cautiously, she tiptoed out of the chamber and found that Malfoy was not lying. The interior was more or less the same, yet completely different. The books were arranged oddly, the tables and chairs stood in a different pattern and the decoration was changed.

'Whatever you did Malfoy, it's not funny!' She attacked him and he scoffed.

'Granger, what purpose would I have in rearranging the library?'

Hermione closed her eyes and tried to find an explanation for what was happening.

'It must have been that orb! The one you shook earlier!' She exclaimed.

Malfoy frowned and disappeared back into the secret study room.

'No, wait!' Hermione tried to stop him from doing it again, but before she managed the library began to transform. Everything but the shelves gently disappeared and came back rearranged again. She deduced it must be a relic which used to aid in keeping everything in place, but the charms wore off.

'Well, this was extremely fun! I'm going to go before I get caught and accused of being responsible for this mess.' Hermione said and navigated towards the exit.

As she was making her way through familiar corridors and hallways, just like the in the library, she felt that something was not quite right. She decided to blame it on the weird experience she just had with Malfoy, and ignored her surroundings until she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

'Butterbeer lips' – she said confidently. The Fat Lady gave her a quizzical look.

'Sorry, that's not the password, dear,' she said reluctantly, still frowning.

'Yes, yes, it is! I'm a Prefect and I spoke with the Head Girl just the other day…', Hermione replied. This was getting ridiculous

'One moment please,' she said before appearing in a frame across the corridor. Hermione panicked; she was on her way to inform Professor McGonagall, or, worse yet, Filch. She didn't have time to react because for the third time this evening she was presented with Malfoy.

'I'm guessing your portrait's password has changed too?' He panted. He must have run all the way from the dungeons.

Hermione felt her patience escaping her with every moment. 'Okay, this is seriously unamusing Malfoy. What did you do?'

'I told you, I have no reason to be playing stupid tricks on you Granger!' She almost didn't hear his frustrated response because she began walking away from him.

'Where are you going?' He asked and followed her.

'Something is really not right, so I am going to Professor Dumbledore's office and I'm going to find out.' She said as she confidently strode through the castle expecting Draco to make a remark about her drastic measures. He only responded with a suggestion to put the Invisibility Cloak back on, in case someone spots them. They didn't speak until they reached the entrance to the office.

'The Fat Lady looked very alarmed when she saw me,' Hermione began in a whisper. 'I think she went to either inform Dumbledore himself or someone else who will bring him.'

'Which means that all we have to do is wait for him to either leave or come back,' he said after some consideration.

They stood under Harry's cloak in silence until after what felt like an age, they saw a familiar face. Professor McGonagall who was looking older and more tired, was hurrying towards the Headmaster's office. Hermione decided it was time to intercept her.

'Professor McGonagall! I'm sorry that…' she was interrupted by her teacher's attempt at pushing them towards the staircase. She did not appear surprised to see them.

'Get in here before anyone sees you!' McGonagall urged.

They did as they were told and soon and travelled up the staircase to the Headmasters office. Hermione wasn't a regular visitor, but she noticed it has been altered as well. If it wasn't for these odd circumstances, she would have been really worried about getting into trouble for wandering around the castle after curfew, but the strangeness of the situation unsettled her far more.

'Is Professor Dumbledore away?' She asked in an uncertain tone.

'No,' said Malfoy. 'He's dead.'

Hermione's heart dropped. How was this possible? He was just present at yesterday's dinner! She looked at the portraits of the past headmasters and was sorry to find him there. It was almost as startling as finding Snape's likeness next to his! She was beyond confused.

Professor McGonagall motioned for them to sit down.

'I think it's best we get to the bottom of this instantly.' She said as she settled behind the giant desk. 'What date is it today miss Granger?'

This question was enough to give Hermione a good idea of what exactly just happened.

'Twelfth of November, Nineteen Ninety-Six.' She replied steadily.

Professor McGonagall pressed her lips together as she studied them carefully. She seemed to be choosing her wording. Slowly, she began:

'Since you were both amongst the more capable students I taught, I believe you can already gather what I'm about to say.' She paused for a moment and sighed. 'It indeed is Twelfth of November, but the year is Twenty Twenty-Two'.

The Professor fell silent as if to give them time to process what they just her.

Hermione's head was spinning with various thoughts, one more disturbing than the next. How was it possible for them to travel twenty-six years into the future, via some object carelessly discarded in a library room? How were they going to get back to their own time, and when? When she was entrusted with a Time Turner in her third year, she was told all sorts of terrifying stories about what happened to those who meddled with time. She felt horrified. So many things could go wrong, so many outcomes that they could accidentally alter for the worse! There wasn't any known spell to her to immediately bring them back, but she hoped this was only due to her lack of knowledge and that Professor McGonagall had a solution already.

She took a terrified glance at Malfoy. He was still silent, but visibly affected by the situation. He looked even worse than before. After a long silence, the new Headmistress finally spoke.

'Unfortunately I cannot tell you when you would be making your way back,' she said, 'but I can assure you that it will happen.'

Hermione listened to Professor McGonagall continue explaining how she knows both of them as adults, and that whatever occurs during their stay will not affect anything. It was difficult remain rational, but eventually she felt a little bit calmer; if they were still alive and well now, this means they must have been sent back at some point and everything that was about to happen, has already happened and there was nothing to fear.

'Now, you two have to explain how you got here in the first place,' she said.

The events in the library were eagerly retold by Hermione, who was determined to not leave anything out. There were only one or two words from Malfoy, who was unsurprisingly blaming her for the incident. Professor McGonagall listened attentively. She was surprised to hear about the orb's behaviour as she wasn't aware that it ever worked. It was studied by a professor with a transportation obsession over a hundred years ago, but was neglected once this person vanished without a trace. Apparently the strange and eccentric personality of the scholar prevented anyone from believing his disappearance had anything to do with the objects he studied, which have displayed no signs of ever working beforehand. Professor McGonagall promised to closely examine the mysterious sphere, but said that they were most likely going to use an alternative medium because of its temperamental disposition.

Again, they were given a few moments to grasp their situation before the Headmistress continued. She wanted to discuss their options. They were not going to be sent away or isolated; this could only have a negative effect and add to their anxiety.

'You will have a series of charms would be placed to alter your appearance and you will be given new identities. You will continue your education as sixth year transfer students,' she exclaimed. 'When we find a way to send you back I will erase any memory of your time here.'

This did not sit well with Hermione. She felt that it was going to be much more straining to pretend to be someone else instead of being hidden away and working on a solution, but she also trusted Professor McGonagall and felt there was a reason for her decision so she didn't say anything.

Both of them were to be placed in Slytherin, which Hermione knew was because Malfoy could not be trusted on his own. The rest of the night was spent on coming up with their back stories; it was agreed that the most convincing thing to do would be to stick to the truth as much as possible and only omit or change the necessary. They were then placed under numerous charms and spells; most to change their appearance, and others to stop them from being able to speak about who they really are.

The whole process took extremely long. They were shown to their respective guest chambers very late into the night and neither of them could really fall asleep. There were too many anxious thoughts and doubts in Hermione's mind and in the end she only got a couple of hours of very light sleep.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you guys enjoyed this! I've had an idea for this story in my head for over four years now and felt it was finally time to write it all down. I understand that this may not have been the most exciting chapter, but it felt necessary to show what happened to Draco and Hermione, and I can only promise that next ones will be full of interaction between all the characters. I'm really excited to hear your thoughts and criticism, so don't hesitate to leave a comment!


	2. Chapter 2 - Draco

Chapter 2 – Draco

Draco Malfoy woke up in Hogwarts guest chambers. He had approximately ten minutes to meet Granger outside the dorm and go for a very early breakfast together, but all he could do is lay on his back and stare at the canopy of his bed. It was hard to admit, but he felt extremely stupid. It was his lack of caution that put him in this situation, and it was humiliating.

Eventually, after being sick of the feeling of shame building up inside him, in one swift motion he jumped out of bed to visit the bathroom. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. It was a strange feeling, to suddenly see a completely different person than the one he was used to. His hair was now brown, just like his eyes. The chin was not as pointed anymore and he had fuller lips with a slightly more hooked nose. A common half-blood nose, he thought with disgust.

Despite all the mortification he felt about his actions, there was a slightest hint of relief. According to McGonagall, he and his family were still alive and living well, therefore he had no reason to worry. He no longer had to spend fruitless, terror filled hours trying to mend that wretched Vanishing Cabinet or dread what was going to happen to his mother and father if he didn't succeed. Deep down, the prospect of not having to be Draco Malfoy and consider whether his actions are pleasing to his father was also very appealing. He might even think himself free, even if he wasn't going to remember any of this.

The idea of his new found freedom gave him energy to head downstairs to meet the insufferable Gryffindor, who no doubt was going to give him a lecture on punctuality.

'You're late.' She exclaimed.

She may have had her looks greatly altered, with her dark blonde, bushy hair and blue eyes, a straighter nose as opposed to her button one and thinner eyebrows, but her body language and facial expressions were as annoyingly Granger as ever. He thought that she could blow their cover acting so much like herself, but he doubted she did anything significant with her life for anyone at Hogwarts now to make that connection. He decided to ignore her and proceeded to start walking towards the Great Hall which seemed to infuriate her.

'Oh, so you're going to ignore me now?!' She shouted in disbelief, trying to catch up with him, whilst carrying all her books and pieces of parchment. 'You do realise if it wasn't for your childishness we wouldn't be here right now?'

Draco felt his blood boil. He felt enough shame without her insolent reminders. He stopped whilst she still trotted behind him.

'Listen, you filthy little Mudblood…' he started, but didn't get a chance to continue his lesson on how not to talk to her superiors because someone came around the corner and collided with her pretty spectacularly.

All her papers and books as well as his broomsticks went flying in the air, blocking off Draco's view of the person.

'I'm sorry!' The blonde boy said and crouched to help Granger pick up her belongings. He seemed to be in too much of a rush because he gave up quickly and took out his wand. With one spell, all the books were now hovering, waiting for Granger to claim them. They both got up and finally saw his face. They were standing in front of a slightly taller replica of Draco Malfoy.

'Thanks…' muttered shocked Granger, but the guy didn't wait. He was already running off in his green quidditch robes with the last name 'Malfoy' written across his back.

His heart started pounding. The surreality of the situation just dawned upon him. He was twenty-six years into the future, and he had a son. A son he was going to be attending school with! He wanted to run after him, see what he's like and how he played, but Granger grabbed his arm.

'Professor McGonagall wanted us in the Great Hall early. They won't let you watch the practice anyway.'

He gritted his teeth and went with her in silence. Not many students were having breakfast just yet, but they still received odd looks from the ones awake enough to notice. McGonagall said it was best to get there early and get acclimatised. They also avoided awkwardness of finding a place to sit.

As the Great Hall filled slowly, Draco had time to think about his son. He was eager to meet him, but their earlier encounter gave him doubts. Why would a Malfoy be helping a random nobody? He judged it to be the mother's influence, and if that was the case, then fortunately for him, it wasn't Pansy Parkinson.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by two people sitting down in front of them.

'You're sitting in our seats,' said a black haired girl with a very intense expression. 'There's a gruesome punishment involving mountain trolls for your ignorance'. She spoke in a very deadpan, bored tone with her head tilted down, staring directly at them with piercing light blue eyes.

'No there isn't', sighed the boy who settled down next to her. Draco groaned inwardly, he looked exactly like Potter minus the glasses. Curiously enough, he was in Slytherin.

'Yes, there is. You will die.' Her face remained serious with no hint of a smile. With the Dark Lord's followers constantly visiting his home, Draco couldn't admit she was the creepiest girl he met, although she was scarily close.

'She's just joking,' said the Potter spawn.

'No, I'm not.'

'S-sorry about that,' Granger stuttered. 'We'll remember for the future.'

'Are you new here? I've never seen you before,' the Potter boy asked almost reluctantly. He was acting as if he wasn't sure they'd want to be talking to him. ' _Rightly so_ ' Draco thought.

'Yes, we transferred from Ilvermorny,' said Granger. No doubt she was trying to latch onto another Potter to worship. 'I'm Hayley and this is Dean.'

'I'm Albus,' he responded. 'And this is-'

'Satan.' The deadpan girl cut in.

At this moment, the blonde Malfoy boy reappeared. Draco's stomach twitched.

'Her name is Emma Jane,' he said with a gentle smile on his face, 'and I'm Scorpius,' he added as he settled next to Albus.

If someone was to put Draco and Scorpius next to each other, they would pass as twins; and yet, the younger Malfoy's expression made such a difference, that their relation could be questioned. His blonde hair was short on the sides, and longer and wavier on top. His eyebrows were raised giving him an open, curious look and there was no hint of the traditional Malfoy sneer. He looked kind and healthy, unlike his father.

'Sorry, for bumping into you this morning,' he spoke to Granger. 'I was in a hurry.'

Draco saw how poorly she concealed her reluctance and surprise at his civility. 'Don't worry about it.' She said with a slight frown.

'What position do you play?' Draco asked, not wanting her to be the one to bond with _his_ son, even though he questioned his unusual for a Malfoy friendly-ness.

'I'm a beater, do you play?'

'Yes, at my old school I was a Seeker,' he said proudly. 'One of the best in the year.'

Granger snorted.

'I've yet to see you do anything worthy on the pitch!' Draco snapped at her before he could stop himself.

He regretted this immediately when he saw the surprised and awkward stares from the trio opposite them.

'Does anyone know which way I can get to Arithmancy?' Granger asked.

'Yes!' Exclaimed Scorpius. Draco nearly scowled at how eager he was. 'I finally get someone else in Slytherin smart enough to take the subject. The class is filled with way too many Gryffindors.' He said jokingly, but you could hear a hint of the Malfoy drawl.

He was shocked by how his son was acting, but not as stunned as Granger seemed to be. She had no choice but to reluctantly follow him out of the Great Hall, leaving him with Potter and the weird girl. Draco wished he took Arithmancy.

Albus Potter narrowed his eyes as he watched them walk away.

'Seems like she'll fit right in here,' he said bitterly.

'How so?' Draco asked.

'Well, she's only been around for five minutes and managed to make it very clear she wants nothing to do with Scorpius,' Albus replied irritably. He then got up and left without saying goodbye.

'He's definitely plotting Hayley's murder, I hope he uses stuffed toy replicas of his father to execute her,' she said in a serious tone.

Draco didn't respond - Potter's words gave him a lot to think about. He guided out of the Great Hall towards a quiet courtyard. Why would the majority of the school want to avoid Scorpius Malfoy? He felt the anxiety build up inside him as he walked. In his time, there were many people that wanted to stay clear from him, but it seemed more understandable given his attitude. Despite Draco's suspicions that his son's situation had everything to do with him, he felt that there clearly wasn't any strong hostility from people so far, therefore there was not much to be feeling guilty about. Scorpius isn't the one trying to find a way to kill the most powerful wizard of his time in order to save his family after all.


	3. Chapter 3 - Scorpius

Chapter 3: Scorpius

Scorpius Malfoy was having more of an interesting day than usual. First, he had an 'emergency' Quidditch session called by their insane Captain which he was late to, then he walked the new girl, Hayley, to class (unless it was Emma-Jane his contact with the opposite gender was very limited) and most importantly, Rose Weasley actually spoke to him in Arithmancy (he was going to ignore the fact that she only came over to introduce herself to Hayley).

"Hi, I'm Rose Granger-Weasley," she strode across the classroom with the bun on top of her head bouncing as she walked along and held out her hand for the new girl to shake. Scorpius looked away, trying to ignore the sudden heat in his cheeks.

His new partner didn't respond. She just stared at Rose as if she's seen a ghost. After a long awkward moment she managed a shocked, "H-Hayley Garwell".

Rose narrowed her blue eyes and smiled haughtily and turned to Scorpius. "Malfoy, have you been talking about your bread fetish again? Haley looks just as horrified as I felt when you graced me with that story!"

Despite the jibe, Scorpius couldn't help but admire how she could turn every tense situation into a joke. Hayley even laughed and relaxed a little as Rose went back to her seat.

It was the first time she spoke to him since sixth year began. She was never the friendliest towards him, no matter how many times he tried to talk to her, or do something to impress her. He even stopped himself from putting his hands up in lessons despite knowing the answers to all the questions just to see that wide eyed smile on her face. She also always did an adorable shift in her seat which used to bring him a strange amount of joy - something he would never admit to anyone, even if he was forced to clean Moaning Myrtle's entire bathroom with his tongue. He plucked up the courage to ask her out last year, but it went so spectacularly badly with her telling him to 'sod off' rather loudly in front of the entire Gryffindor house that he decided to leave her alone after that. He swore to finally get over her during the summer, and to pretend she didn't exist when they came back to school, which he was very successful at, until she decided to speak to him. Her comment was causing a huge urge to smile even long after the professor entered the classroom, so he made an angry mental note to become better at avoiding her for the rest of the week just to be safe.

"Just to clarify, I don't have a bread fetish." He told his companion.

Hayley smiled gently. "I'm sure you don't. Although, I did see you eat your toast very curiously this morning…"

Scorpius laughed and gave her a nudge. They received a scolding glare from the teacher, whose methods consisted of individual silent study of various charts whilst he was marking homeworks, so they went back to doing their work.

* * *

"So what's the deal with you and Dean?" Scorpius asked Hayley as he walked her to Ancient Runes. He didn't have anything until Potions in the afternoon, so he thought he'd spare her the trouble of trying to navigate around the castle. "Are you siblings?"

This seemed to amuse her. "No, we just happened to both sign up for the student exchange."

"I didn't think Hogwarts sent anyone over to the US though?"

"It's a new program," she replied. He saw her tense up again. "They're trying it out on us."

"You don't have an American accent," Scorpius mused.

"British families. When we both heard of the possibility to study at Hogwarts, we thought it'd be a perfect opportunity to see what we missed out on." She then changed the subject. "And what's the deal with you and Rose?"

"Nothing," said Scorpius, trying his best to act confused. "We're barely even acquaintances". He made his voice sound as lighthearted and innocent as possible.

Thankfully, Hayley didn't get to say anymore on the matter because they got to the Ancient Runes classroom and her lesson was about to start.

Scorpius went back to the Slytherin common room where Albus and Emma-Jane (or Edge as they liked to call her) were sitting down in their usual leather armchairs. He was curious what his best friend and step-sister thought about the two additions to their year group.

"They're a bit weird," said Al, with a very serious look on his face. "I'm pretty sure this Haley girl thinks you're the new Voldemort."

"She seemed okay in Arithmancy," said Scorpius. The Malfoy family reputation ensured that most people he met were not very eager to get all chummy. He was used to the wary glances and cold, awkward conversations - if there ever were any. As long as he had his closest friends and family, he didn't feel he needed everyone else to like him, but his best friend was always bothered when these situations occurred.

"I dunno, they're just so… awkward and weird!"

"You hang out with Edge who has yet to say a single relatively normal thing but a new kid is a bit nervous on their first day and you freak out," he said amused.

"I don't think Haley likes you very much from how she was acting at breakfast".

"I think Al is right. I can sense their demonic presence. They came here from hell to assassinate us", said Edge in her classic monotone way. "I like them." She added after a long pause.

"We might see them in Potions," said Scorpius in an attempt to distract himself from his thoughts. "You can analyse their highly suspicious behaviour then."

* * *

Much to Emma-Jane's dismay, Haley and Dean did not expose their murderous tendencies, which resulted in an uninteresting lesson for her. For Scorpius, however, Potions was anything but unremarkable; For the second time in the same day, Rose Weasley interacted with him.

Professor Arroway, who was a petite woman with an innocent expression on her face and a magnificent talent for Potion making, started the lesson with the usual quiz on the concoction they were going to attempt.

"Who can tell me what we're brewing today?" She asked the class pointing to the cauldron on her desk.

Up until sixth year, this was Rose's time to show off her knowledge and gain points of Gryffindor. Scorpius would always know the answers, but he adored her excitement and happiness whenever she got something right, so he never dared to interrupt. Only after his firm resolution to no longer have any interest for her, he decided to speak up, which seemed to turn the lesson into a competition between them. Both of their hands shot straight in the air, but to Scorpius' surprise, Hayley also volunteered to answer.

"Yes, Miss Garwell."

Hayley took one look at cloudy blue swirls and confidently replied, "It's the Draught of Peace."

"Yep," Professor Arroway beamed. "Five points to Slytherin. I'll add five more if you can tell me what is different about making this potion?"

"The order of the added ingredients is very specific, one wrong move and it becomes poisonous." Hayley replied.

After awarding their house another five points, they were asked to collect their ingredients and make a start. To Scorpius' surprise, Rose approached him on the way.

"Looks like we gained another rival Malfoy", she said smirking at him with a playful glint in her eyes.

He was glad that she didn't wait for his response, because he was still determined to limit their contact as much as possible. As he began to furiously cut up his first ingredient, he was cursing himself for letting her have this effect on him. It was nearly impossible to focus on his work, as Rose's annoying smile and comments kept creeping into his mind. He had no idea what she wanted from him, since she made it very clear last May, that she wanted nothing more than for him to disappear into the Forbidden Forest and be hopefully consumed by the giant spiders or gutted by centaurs. He was going out of his way to ignore her, and she was treating him equally indifferently up until this very day. It set Scorpius on edge, and by the end of the lesson, he realised he got the steps mixed up and what was supposed to be his Draught of Peace, ended up being a toxic sludge.

* * *

AN: Hiya! Finally a Scorpius chapter! Hopefully things will pick up from here, after two filler-ish chapters to begin with. Let me know what you think of the characters so far :)

Love,

K.


	4. Chapter 4 - Rose

Chapter 4 - Rose

Rose Granger Weasley was confused. She failed to understand why she approached Scorpius Malfoy _twice_ in one day. He had always been a pain in her arse; he used to somehow always be around when she was in the library, just sneaking glances at her with his wide, grey eyes or try to get his prefect patrols to coincide with hers just to have an excuse to talk to her. She could swear he wouldn't volunteer to answer questions he clearly knew the answers to in class just to please her, judging from his hopeful stare and a light smile when she was asked instead. She found it all very tiresome.

At first, it didn't particularly bother her, but as years went by, she felt increasingly annoyed and guilty. It's not like at first she completely avoided him, but after a few conversations which went exactly the same way, she was less willing to spend time with Scorpius. Whatever her opinion was, he always agreed or changed his to match hers.

' _Do you like Potions?' He asked one time during a patrol he most likely begged the Head Boy to assign him to._

' _Not as much as I like other subjects,' she replied._

' _Yeah, same.'_

Lies. Scorpius Malfoy excelled at Potions and one look at his flushed face and enthusiastic movements could tell anyone he was in his element. He always seemed to want to make them as similar and compatible as possible, and this sort of thing couldn't put her off more than it already has. Rose just couldn't respect someone so spineless, without an opinion and who constantly allowed her to walk all over him like she did.

She felt guilty for not liking him back, which in turn made her dread all their encounters. Polite hints did not work, and the situation reached a boiling point last year where he decided to ask her out in front of the entire Gryffindor house. She was taking twelve OWLS (which is one more subject than her mother has taken) and it was truly the most stressful time of her life. Scorpius' intrusions into her study time left her anxious and irritable and by the time he 'popped the question' she was so frustrated and just exploded. She felt horrible for yelling at him that day, but she couldn't help but feel relief when he finally left her alone.

What compelled her to suddenly start talking to him, she didn't know. Their contact was limited to indirect sentences in lessons when they were competing for the 'top student' spot by trying to give the most thorough answers and earn their respective house more points. She prayed he wouldn't be encouraged by this and start his 'pushover puppy' act again, she preferred their healthy, competition much more.

She entered the dining hall and sat down next to her best friend and cousin, Dominique. Unlike most of the family who were really hell bent on assuming Rose was the exact copy of her mother, Dom was hell bent on assuming Rose was a 'bad girl trying to pull off a good girl act'. She didn't think she was either of those things, but it was a refreshing change from being expected to have her nose in a book all the time.

"I spoke to Malfoy today," Rose groaned quietly with a pleading look on her face. Dom put down her fork.

Rose knew her cousin well enough to know that the annoyance with her came from concern; she found Scorpius' worship of Rose absolutely hilarious, but she also had to put up with too many rants about him.

"You didn't!" She had a wide eyed, stern look on her face.

"Ugh, I don't know what came over me!"

"What did I say to you about speaking to him?" She began her lecture, "you're just giving him hope! I wouldn't be surprised if he restarted his adoration of you straight away, and I can't really be dealing with stressy Rose again right now."

"Why, what's happening right now?" Rose asked, frowning.

"Val's is being a douchebag" she sighed.

Rose just about managed to hold back a "when isn't he being a douchebag?" remark. Valentine Huffbry was Dom's boyfriend, and she honestly couldn't understand what possessed Dominique, a sassy, brutally confident and honest Gryffindor with part veela looks, to go out with Valentine Huffbry, a vile, uncaring oaf who did not have an ounce of warmth or sensitivity in his big, burly body. She didn't waste her breath trying to find out more about their latest drama, they both had a silent agreement not approach the topic in greater detail; that always ended in an argument.

Instead, she glanced at the Slytherin table to check for any signs in Scorpius Malfoy's behaviour that could suggest the return of his obsession, only to find him engaged in a conversation with the new girl, Hayley. To her surprise, seeing him unaffected by their contact earlier didn't bring her as much relief as she thought it would.

"Poor girl," laughed Dom, "looks like he may have found someone else to latch onto."

They continued the rest of their meal exchanging stories about stuff that happened in their lessons, and then they made their way up to the Gryffindor Tower to do their homework. Thursdays were the shortest days, leaving plenty of time to get schoolwork done out of the way for a somewhat free weekend. It was in both of Dom's and Rose's interests to do as much as possible, since there was a Slytherin - Hufflepuff Quidditch game coming up and they were both hoping to join the after party in the Room of Requirement.

* * *

Before the weekend could fully start, Rose had Friday's Double Herbology to get through. She found herself slightly more eager to get to the class, just to see whether Scorpius was going to continue trying to ignore her. It was not clear to her why she suddenly cared so much.

Her planned observation was going to go a lot smoother than she anticipated; her subject, along with Albus, Haley and and the other new boy decided to settle at a working station directly opposite her and Dom's that day.

When they were all in their seats Uncle Neville, or 'Professor Longbottom' during term time, began:

"You'll be sad to know we are moving away from Angel Vines today." Disappointed groans spread throughout the greenhouse. Everyone loved working with Angelus Vitis because unlike anything else in Hogwarts, it didn't try to kill the students. It seemed that this blissful period was about to come to an end.

"The new plants we'll be taking care of, are a tad more more temperamental. Who can tell me anything about Hell-Nettles?"

Rose, Scorpius and Haley raised their hands immediately.

"Yes, miss Granger?"

Rose knew that Neville meant her. She was used to most people randomly picking and swapping between her two last names.

"Hell-Nettles are-" both her and Hayley Garwell began at the same time. Rose paused and looked at the girl who has turned wide eyed and bright red.

"S-sorry, I didn't hear right..." muttered Hayley still looking mortified. The new boy scowled at her which made Rose feel bad for the girl.

"Go on?" Neville nodded at Rose encouragingly.

"They are extremely vicious weeds; unyielding and ill tempered, if allowed to grow in the wild they become uncontrollable and take the life out of any other plants nearby. They don't have many uses or magical properties and wizards believe that it is better to risk injury to contain them in charmed ecospheres than to allow them to spread destruction. They also hate to be touched or looked after in any way, and will spit a blinding nectar in the eye of anyone who handles them." She recited proudly, remembering the definition word by word from the book.

"Wonderful!" exclaimed the professor. "Ten points to Gryffindor!" She smiled and then before she could stop herself looked challengingly at Scorpius. It was becoming tradition that they both answer as best as they can, but she was never did so much as to even turn in his direction before.

"Can anyone else tell me which sort of habitat they favour the most?"

Once again, all three of them raised their hands.

"Mister Malfoy?"

"They're often seen in the rainier regions. England is particularly prone to Hell-Nettle infestations."

"Excellent, Ten points to Slytherin!" Scorpius smiled lightly at the praise. He didn't look at Rose at all.

After this short quiz, Neville explained the lesson plan to the class.

"We're going to head to the edge of forbidden forest where a Hell-Nettles are starting to take over. The infestation is in the early stages, so no one will lose sight for more than a week should an unlikely injury occur. You can find goggles and all the other equipment you need on the table."

Everyone gathered their shovels, glass spheres and goggles with a sense of dread.

"Yes," hissed Dom sarcastically under her breath, "being blinded by devil plants which have no business being moved is exactly what I had in mind when taking Herbology."

Rose laughed, but was equally anxious about this prospect. She now understood why the class had such peaceful and lovely plants to take care of up until now.

As they were all getting themselves organised to leave, she heard Haley and Scorpius engrossed in a deep conversation. This caused her to frown slightly.

"The curriculum is so much different!" said Hayley with a surprised blush. "We were dealing with Snargalufs in Herbology at my school!"

"We covered them last year, Al nearly lost an arm!" he sniggered a little bit whilst Al winced.

"You also got to deal with Angel Vine? That must have been fantastic!"

"Yes, they were great! I got mine to grow five flowers!"

"Five?" She exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah," he replied. "It's all to do with how much attention they want. Mine turned out to be very needy, which I realised early on so I was able to look after it how it wanted me to. I could show you..."

Rose was growing strangely fed up of their excited chatter. It bothered her how thrilled Malfoy looked when listening to Hayley, how fast they were speaking and how engrossed they were with each other. Before she could mentally slap herself, zip her lips shut and move on with her life, the words were from coming out of her mouth;

"Wow," she smirked. "Now I can see exactly why you managed to get five flowers, Malfoy. It takes one to know one."

A faint blush appeared on Scorpius' cheeks. He stared at her for the moment and then his usually gentle face twisted into a scowl.

"Applying this logic, I am confident you will have no trouble with Hell-Nettles today, Weasley." He said through gritted teeth. "They match your personality almost exactly," he added in a cold drawl before leaving the greenhouse along with everyone else.

"What the hell was that?" Dom exclaimed in a state of shock. "What possessed you to say this to him?"

Rose just slammed her head on the desk and groaned.

"What is wrong with me?" She moaned.

Dom just sighed and dragged her out to the Forbidden Forest where the lesson was taking place. She even did most of the work, since Rose was too busy being embarrassed and considering taking a plunge into the Great Lake and never resurfacing again. She was beyond confused as to why exactly she felt it was necessary to be annoyed at Malfoy for being friendly with Haley, why she even bothered being so rude and unpleasant to him, and why him leaving her alone was suddenly a little bit more of a problem than ever before.

* * *

AN: Thank you for the lovely reviews! This is my first story, so apologies if the first few chapters are all kinda different, I guess I'm still figuring out how to tackle writing this thing! As usual, I welcome any sort of comments and critique - it's all helpful stuff so let me know how you found the characters in this chapter!

I was asked whether this is a Dramione story - the answer for the most part is no. It's a story about the kids, witnessed by Draco and Hermione, which will hopefully make sense much later on.

Love,

K.


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